Geocaching is a relatively new
sport that has become popular with the advent of easy-to-use Global
Positioning Satellite receivers (GPSr). Players create and hide
containers (known as caches) with a logbook, and depending on the
container, items for trade. Their coordinates are recorded with a
GPS, and the cache is posted on a website.

There are over 1000 geocaches in Alaska, in every
part of the state. Many are located in relatively populated areas,
in municipal parks or other easily accessible locations. Others are
located along the highway system in Alaska, and guests could
literally find dozens of geocaches every day as they travel through
the state. A few are located in very challenging areas, and require
considerable physical skill and specialized equipment, such as
climbing gear or a boat to find.

Alaskan geocachers do a very good job of placing
caches in particularly interesting locations, so that their fellow
players can discover and enjoy some of Alaska's more spectacular
sights and experiences while searching for geocaches.

What You See–

Alaska's scenery is
spectacular almost everywhere you go. A visitor might plan a
trip to Alaska with the goal of geocaching every day, or
perhaps plan a vacation in Alaska and travel around, and
visit geocaches that he or she comes across along the way.
For example, there are literally dozens of geocaches on the
road between Anchorage, Denali National Park and Fairbanks.
In either case, the geocaching guest can expect spectacular
scenery and some very creative geocaches.

A winter view of Mt.
McKinley taken near a geocache along the George Parks
Highway just north of Trapper Creek.

What You Bring
–

Of course, a geocacher will always
have his or her GPS receiver with them. Fortunately, Alaska is very
well connected to the Internet, so if a guest had a laptop computer,
one could easily connect to the geocaching.com website to download coordinates of caches. Since
geocaching is an outdoor sport, all of the usual gear that you would
need for a walk in the woods is appropriate, such as insect
repellent, rain gear, appropriate footwear, etc. Also, since Alaska
has a large number of large wild animals that wander the woods, a
knowledge of safe outdoor travel and what to do when confronted with
a large animal is also very useful.

We are very familiar with the sport (this is one
of our personal hobbies), and we would he happy to assist you with
planning an Alaskan vacation that would include geocaching, either
as a casual diversion while here, or as a geocaching safari.